Rascal Flatts guitarist and singer Joe Don Rooney is celebrating 28 months of sobriety, and he turned to social media on Saturday (Jan. 13) to share an uplifting message about the changes he’s made in his life — and how those lessons might benefit others.

“I’m having a wonderful morning and I think today is going to be a great day,” Rooney writes, adding the AA slogan, “One day at a time.”

“That’s the AA way,” he adds. “And not only for alcoholics like myself — but the steps and the guard rails of the AA way, can be beneficial to anyone seeking to live a more spirit filled, God lead life.

“I’m living for today — today is all I really have. The past and the future are merely fantasy to me, they’re not even real. So, I’m gonna try and have conscious contact with God’s light, love and grace as much as my finite brain can today — and I’m gonna live for this 24 hours with all I have.”

Rooney closes by offering “grace and light” to his social media followers.

The message marks one of only a couple of times Rooney has interacted with his fans online since his DUI arrest in September of 2021, after he crashed his car into a tree in the early morning hours. He remained mostly out of the spotlight until Jan. 3, 2024, when he posted a long update, confirming that he and his wife, model Tiffany Fallon, are now divorced and revealing that he spent four months in a rehab facility after pleading guilty to DUI.

Rooney admitted that drinking had been an issue for years, writing, “I was not a good father — I was not a good husband — and I was not a good bandmate to my business partners … I probably would’ve never taken responsibility for any of this if it hadn’t been for my car wreck on Sep 9, 2021.”

The guitarist wrote that he’s “been sober now for almost 28 months come this Jan 13,” the day he posted his new message. He also corrected some of the rumors that had been floating around, assuring fans he was not dead and was not transitioning to become a woman — a rumor that had taken firm hold on Reddit before spreading elsewhere online.

Rascal Flatts’ planned 2020 farewell tour got pushed back by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the group broke up before they could return to the stage, with singer Gary LeVox later revealing that Rooney had quit the band. Bassist and vocalist Jay DeMarcus has said that he would love to play with his former bandmates again.